A growing correspondence worthy of The Shop around the Corner in its moments of twee sentimentality, mulling over the awkwardness of the forty-something years when the decisions of youth show their exponential repercussions. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

[The] titular character was anything but a rhinestone cowboy: a poet as hypersensitive to the sparks of life emanating from the trees and campfires and pool halls he haunted as to the distractions of regret, lust, or self-doubt. - The MacGuffinEDIT

Many of the beats are the same as in the original, only reframed through the lens of hindsight. Yet, this film is so unapologetic in its delight of the overheated ballad or disco beat that it is impossible not to understand the poignancy of the lyrics. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Unfortunately, what the movie is trying to say about the inherent destructiveness of exploiting these creatures as commodities is overshadowed by the glaring aspects of the film's own commercialization. Postmodern, indeed. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

For Sarah, Will, and his leg sidekick, the maze of characters they must navigate is the tedious space between crazy scenes where anything, anything, anything can be saved with duct tape. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

It helps to have a youthful zeal for the chase and maintaining friendships despite the baggage of adulthood and the reality of criminal trespassing and potential life-threatening injury. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

There are times when Solo: A Star Wars Story gets it right, and all the measures of Cool that generations have adored and emulated positively glow on the big screen with an eye twinkle and naughty grin. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Its best moments are when McCarthy's innate charm, underappreciated prowess with physical comedy, and naughty-nice magnetism are put on bubbly display as her character makes up for lost time and missed opportunities. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

At times the film is a darkly comedic glimpse into the treatment of the mentally ill, including Juno Temple as Sawyer's vicious and crude bunkmate, Violet, and Jay Pharaoh as Nate, the only patient sympathetic to her argument. - The MacGuffinEDIT

The strong notion of the beauty industry reimagining what it sees and promotes as beautiful is weakly executed, and we aren't left with a solid resolution that things will get much better. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

For fans of the 2001 original, it's great to watch the rebels back in action where the world is their stage and the invisible roar of the crowd drives them on to keep performing their clown act until they die. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Composer Erik Friedlander's sumptuous, percussion-and-cello score...either tumbles through the slick interior walls like fog or crackles through the air like static on a cold day. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Under the direction of Steven S. DeKnight, the excitement of the scant battle scenes in the first half is quickly vaporized by extended sequences of inefficiency: in the laboratory, in the training room, in the testing facilities. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

"The Strangers: Prey at Night" throws every horror cliche in the book into its slasher story of a family of four hunted by a tag team of killers who are simply doing it because "Why not?" - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Black Panther definitely warrants multiple viewings - one just for the visual roller-coaster ride, and sets itself apart from the rest of the MCU with a formidable blend of good story and magnificent design. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

The film deftly intertwines the denotations of its title as it serves not only as an illustration of the physical edifice and journalists, but also of the Pentagon Papers themselves, and of the woman who was given a position and made it her own. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

[Paul Thomas] Anderson masterfully displays such a focus of self in the secrets within the fabrics within the rooms within the house of the main character that the film often swerves into the hyperreal as reflective of his finely tuned sensitivities. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

We never fully empathize with Tonya because she never fully gains our trust; her smiles could be leers, her obvious need for attention is tempered by a resentment over loss of control over her image. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

The film alternates between embracing the individual viewer and the collective appreciation of bad, bad art, and while we are often laughing uproariously at the audacity of the story unfolding, there are moments of sadness where we fear we shouldn't. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Saoirse Ronan is one of the brightest stars of her generation, able to switch from ebullient to tormented, confident to awkward in an instant and never uttering a false note. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

The Florida Project, director Sean Baker captures that cautious ethereality of Moonee's constructed universe against the harsh reality of transient families living in a highway motel in the shadow of The Happiest Place on Earth. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Director Marc Forster takes a melodramatic plot from a Sunday-night cable feature and tries to expand it to the big screen with bigger stars and more exotic locales, but it still retains the predictability of a movie of the week. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Drew Goddard may have intended his film as a postmodern discourse on fear, free will, and corporate religion, but instead he serves up a ridiculously campy hodgepodge of horror classics and nihilistic violence. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT

Capturing the stress and tension of the job detail, as well as the emotional toll on the officers, the line between audience and actor is blurred as the camera alternates between their perspective and that of the audience. - The Monitor (McAllen, TX)EDIT